New Zealand's Wine Region: Hawke's Bay and Napier

Before going on to describe our excursion in Napier, main city in the Hawke’s Bay region, I must mention one similarity between our last destination, Gisborne, and this one.

A perennial scene that plays itself out in both places are the continuous lines of timber lorries heading from the interior to the ports. We really did get to witness these trucks close up as our ship usually has to share its berth with commercial ports in the towns we visit. It was an incredible thing to witness these mountains of pine trunks just waiting to be shipped out to construction industries overseas, and, remember, everywhere is overseas from New Zealand.

Apparently, the largest market is China. So, you now know, if you are visiting a friend’s house in China there is every chance that the floor joists, floorboards and staircases have been constructed using NZ radiata pine (pinus radiata) or, as it is better known in its native California, Monterey pine.

The incredibly rich soil in both areas means that just about anything grows extremely well. Vineyards are plentiful in both regions, especially in the latter. How often have you looked at your bottle of Sauvignon only to find out it is a product of New Zealand. If that is the case there is a jolly good chance that it started its journey to your glass in Hawke’s Bay.

Many other crops take advantage of these most fertile areas, especially pine trees. Good soil, good climate and plenty of available hectares means that these trees reach maturity quicker than almost anywhere else in the world. Inside fifteen years they can reach between 20 and 25 metres tall, or up to five times higher than the eaves of most two storey homes. Whilst it enjoys rapid growth in NZ’s North Island it now struggles in its ancestral home, California, thanks to a pesky parasite, pine pitch canker.

If it is not harvested after fifteen years or so, and they are left to do their own thing, the pines can reach up to 60 metres in height with a girth of two metres, try hugging that, meaning it is about 650mm across, and live for up to 90 years. Radiata, well there’s an odd name, nothing to do with keeping you warm if you burn enough of it, it is so named because of the cracks that radiate from the umbo of the cone scales. Can’t think why I never knew that before!

Whilst still in Gisborne we got separated from the main bus. This was on purpose, you understand, rather than go back to the ship for afternoon tea we decided to take a walk around the town. The only advantage of doing this was that we burned calories rather than absorbed even more of them. I know, I hear you say, you don’t need to count calories when on holiday, it is a free ‘hit’. It might be a little unfair to say that there isn’t anything to do on a weekday in Gisborne, but there isn’t anything to do. So, there I go again, starting a sentence with so, we decided to head back to the port.

Couldn’t find any signs, couldn’t open data on mobile phone for fear of needing to take out a mortgage to pay Sky on our return, so had to use common sense, our common sense! In fact, once we had decided on a plan, it worked pretty well. To start with, we got to the river, remember it is only about 1200 metres long, so made to the sea that way, downhill of course, we’re not that stupid.

Once there Jane asked which way? To be fair, that was a good question. I pondered an answer for a moment, a guess to be honest, before I realised there was a faint scent of pine in the air. I turned south and couldn’t sense it, so turned north and there, no mistake about it, there it was. There you go, simply follow my nose. What is more, it worked. It took a bloody long time, but it worked. Quite often, people ask me if my other senses are stronger because I am blind. My answer is that I don’t think they are any better than anyone else’s I just have to use them differently. I can use sound, touch, taste and, of course, smell to compensate for what my eyes don’t do.

“Gee! You must smell good,” said a fellow passenger when we eventually got back to the Voyager.

“Thank you,” I said, always finding a compliment where none is intended.

If anybody can bring me back down to earth, it is the present Mrs Taylor. “I don’t think so! After the steps we’ve done, you need a shower.”

If I was sentenced to spend the rest of my life in New Zealand but could live wherever I wanted, I would choose Napier. I liked it there. To ride on a road train was going to be a dream come true. You must have seen them, usually in Australian films set in the outback. They feel like they are about a mile long when they pass you in the opposite direction. It is like been battered by a cyclone and keeping a small car on the straight and narrow can prove most challenging. This isn’t a recent experience, you understand, it goes back to younger days, over forty years ago now.

It wasn’t what I had expected, indeed I don’t think they have road trains in New Zealand. It was more akin to a fairground puff-puff, even though the locomotive bit is a customised John Deere, rather than the monstrous workhorse of the Australian highways. The idea was conceived by a local entrepreneur, Will Van Asch, who, by his own admission, had suffered from a mid-life crisis; I’m still waiting for mine at 65! After leaving a high-powered corporate career, working for the likes of Marks and Spencer and Vodafone in the UK he decided to return to the backwoods of Napier, where he had to think what to do with his mid-life thingy. I know, he thought to himself, I will build a little train that will run on the road.

“Wow! Where did that come from?” I asked over a cup of tea at a local museum.

“I’m not sure really,” he replied. “I just thought that if I build it they will come. It was like driving in the dark without lights.”

And come they did. My word, they did! We were booked on the first tour of the day and when we returned to base, we discovered a long queue of other like-minded passengers lining up to give it a go. First off, he was a very fine tour guide, each carriage was fitted with very clear speakers which when combined with his captivating voice, you couldn’t help to learn things. By the way, I’ve forgotten to tell you the name of the train, it is named the “Hawke’s Bay Express.” There’s a really good reason for this, it works for its living in Hawke’s Bay. I am staggered at how quick I catch on sometimes!

The journey is full of fantastic historic facts which, when delivered by a local with a breathtaking range of knowledge, fills an amateur history buff like me with wonder.

There is one historic event that is referred to continuously during the ride and, it has to be said, it has had a profound effect on the manifestation of the modern city. At 10:47 on 3rd February 1931, the town was hit by a devastating earth quake. There was hardly a brick or stone built building untouched by the sudden movement, that measured 7.8 on the Richter scale, which was so severe, it made the foreshore rise up by two metres. Having never had the earth move for me, came close a couple of times, missed one in Newcastle, NSW, by a couple of weeks back in late 1989 and just missed the recent Myanmar one, when we were in Bangkok, by just under a month. The only other one I have avoided was the Colchester quake of 1884, but I missed that one by 75 years.

Amazingly, although most of the masonry built premises were destroyed or damaged, the timber framed ones managed to escape, pretty much, unscathed. Can you imagine the smugness of your neighbour when they claimed that that was the reason they bought a timber framed property. I wouldn’t blame you for one minute if you took an action, brought on by provocation, involving their nose and your fist! Well, you were to get the last laugh when a shocking fire took hold during the aftermath and saw off all timber buildings. Your turn to laugh.

Of course, I have made light of this, it was no laughing matter. Lives were left in absolute ruin and, sadly 256 were killed, two permanently missing and over 400 were hospitalised. The shock caused fires to start in two chemist shops in the business district. These managed to spread unhindered, like wildfire, the water mains had been broken by the quake so the fires couldn’t be fought in the usual way. It continued for 36 hours and razed eleven blocks in the downtown district.

The city council didn’t waste any time and very soon many services had been restored. Neither did they waste the opportunity to build back better. The advent of the motor car meant that the city streets were not really fit for purpose. They were incapable of dealing with the volume of traffic, even in 1931, so they planned to make sure they got it right. The streets were wide, with nose-in parking, and the sidewalks were generous. As new technologies arrived, they didn’t want the roads dug up every five minutes so they installed oversized service ducts to the sides of the roads to cater for everything that they thought might be developed in the future. These ducts are still in use today and when it came to the installation of modern communication cables, I assume fibre, the entire business district and environs was carried out in days rather than months. Well done them! Are you listening UK plc?

What ever the downside of the Napier Earthquake there is more than one upside. Without taking away from the monumental grief for many and the sense of short term loss to others, the rebuild made it one of the most up-to-date cities in the world at the time. Even now, it has left a most attractive legacy for 21st century visitors to marvel at: it has rebuilt in a most colourful art deco style which, even to this visually impaired tourist was awesome. It is now known as the art deco capital of the world, as well as the Nice of the Pacific. It is a must if you find yourself in New Zealand with some time to kill. You won’t regret it.

What do you think of when you think of New Zealand. I’ll tell you what I think. I think of good weather, extreme sports, rugby union, All Blacks, sheep and wine; I don’t think of the space race. It’s true, though, there is a rocket launch site in Hawke’s Bay. Yeah, I know! You don’t need to rub your eyes to bring these words into better focus, it is fact.

Some time ago a man named Peter Beck used to love messing about with materials he could mix together and make them go bang. His teachers, apparently, would rather he had concentrated more on his studies. He was clearly a bright boy and, my word, has he turned out to be a bright man. Companies now pay him to send their valuable satellites into orbit.

What started as creating a few explosions in the science laboratory has spawned the rocket launching firm, Rocket Lab. At the time of our little train ride it had turned into a viable enterprise turning over an incredible NZ$400 million. Test tubes to rocket. Health and safety doesn’t quite seem like Cape Canaveral, it consists of a man with a stop/go board. When a rocket is about to be launched from the spaceport he stands in the middle of the road with his lollipop sign showing red to the drivers. When the rocket has reached a safe altitude he turns it around to show them the green and everything gets back to normal. Until the next time! Truly amazing.

You remember Steve and Gill from last week? They have two daughters, the oldest of which, Katie, happened to be in Napier when we were there. She was with her husband, Daniel, and they were competing in a multi-discipline fitness tournament. In between events, we were able to catch up for a coffee. I am pretty convinced that I don’t actually know a couple who are so physically fit.

KL Parkrun

Whilst there is a Parkrun in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, we were in the West Norfolk capital of King’s Lynn.

Their Parkrun event takes place in a beautiful urban park known as The Walks. VI Guide, Nik Bryan, and I, along with our wives, Sharon and Jane, went along to take part in the three lap event. Of the four of us, only Jane had been to this one before.

It was ever so well attended, 402 on the day, and was run on a pretty level course, only two Norfolk hills, nearly 300mm in height, I might be exaggerating! I always let parkrun organisers know if I am going to be with them, especially if it is for the first time or a long time since we last visited.

Because of this we really are treated like royalty when we rock up. Other runners are most complimentary to the pair of us. Thank you. I have walked around the park before and, I have to say, I was slightly worried about the series of lampposts that run along the centre of the course; nothing to worry about, though, Nik kept me clear of these and we finished in one piece.

One thing we encountered for the first time was a Parkrun protester. In truth, and without much thought on my part, I never realised such small-minded people exist. To be honest, I don’t actually know for sure that the man who crossed our path was actually a protester. We were in the middle of a goodly sized group and, of course, I didn’t see the man and, believe it or not, his tiny little dog. Unfortunately, Nik’s line of sight was blocked off by other runners so he never saw him either. It was down to an eagle-eyed lady behind, namely Mrs Bryan, who shouted out a warning. I was within inches of stepping on the dog and it would have been no surprise, thanks to my weight, if I had broken the animal’s back.

I know that in the briefing at the beginning of every Parkrun we are told to respect other park users. Surely, though, this should be a two way thing. It is utterly stupid, not to say reckless, to step out into a tightly packed bunch of runners just to make a point. If I had trodden on your dog, knocked you over, fallen myself, and caused a pile up people could have been hurt.

We soon heard runners around us saying that this particular man was a regular protester so it is only hearsay. I was so staggered by the term that I have since looked it up and, indeed, there are Parkrun protesters.

Now, everyone has the right to protest but, for pity’s sake, be sensible about it. If your actions were deliberate you could have caused serious injury to totally innocent people. You ought to be ashamed of yourself. It would be better if you stood on the side with some sort of placard or, in my case, shouted abuse at me. Parkrun is now so very well established, it isn’t going to go away anytime soon. How about you bring your dog walk forward or move it back an hour; will it really make that much difference to your life?

White Cane Ratings*
Car Park: good; road parking, get there early 🦯 🦯 🦯 (3)
Welcome: very good; friendly - 🦯 🦯 🦯 🦯(4)
Atmosphere: very good - 🦯 🦯 🦯 🦯 (4)
Course: very good; entirely on hard surface and mainly level - 🦯 🦯 🦯 🦯 (4)
Marshalling: very good - 🦯 🦯 🦯 🦯(4)
*These ratings are how the event suits a blind person, and are my opinion only; they are not scientific. Whatever happens no-one must be put off by me. The best way to learn about something is try it for yourself.